Page 138 - Freshwater-Biology-and-Ecology-Handbook

CHAPTER 3 1.1 1

MACROINVERTEBRATE DATA ANALYSIS

FOR SURVEILLANCE AND OPERATIONAL

MONITORING INCLUDING STATUS

CLASSIFICATION

1.1 Overview

This section provides an overview of data analysis for The data analyses described in this part of the handbook
surveillance and operational monitoring including the depend on adherence to the field and laboratory methods
general river quality status classification. Other methods, described in Chapter 2. The accuracy and precision of
including those used for investigative monitoring, are results from the data analysis depend on the quality of the
covered in Chapter 4 and reporting is covered in Chapter 6. sampling and laboratory analyses. The emphasis of methods
This section is aimed at ecologists and river managers as a for monitoring must therefore be on reproducibility, quality
summary of river invertebrate methods and how to interpret assurance and the accountability of those responsible for
their results. It is also aimed at ecologists in other countries undertaking each step.
who are setting up their own status classification schemes
and want to know how this was done in the UK. It focuses on
RIVPACS (River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification See the monitoring cycles in Figure 3.1: the red circle
System), which is at the heart of the UK’s approach – its shows where this fits into the overall monitoring cycle.
underlying principles having been adopted in the Water
Framework Directive for all biological status classifications
across Europe.

Hydrometridae (Water Measurer)

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